Jail sentence over cannabis factory

Thuy Khai Nguyen was jailed for three years Credit: Essex Police

ThuyKhai Nguyen, 42, was found guilty of being concerned with the cultivation ofcannabis following a four-day trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Nguyen,of no fixed address, had denied the charge, claiming that he had worked forabout a month as cook and a cleaner at the cannabis factory which was found ina warehouse unit at Redhills Road following a burglary in December 2010.

Officersarrived and found the body of a Vietnamese national on the warehouse floor. Theman was identified through fingerprint records as being 38-year-old Tran DuyHai. It is thought he entered the UK illegally in or after 2008 and hadbeen living at the warehouse at the time of his death.

Detectivesbelieve he died following a fall from the roof. A provisional post-mortemexamination showed that he died from head and back injuries. As a result,police launched a homicide investigation which ran alongside their cannabiscultivation and burglary enquiries. Thieves had broken through the roof of thewarehouse and stolen cannabis valued at £2m from about 6,000 plants.

Sevenmen have already been jailed in connection with burglary and conspiracy tosupply cannabis and two other men, also charged with similar offences, areawaiting further court appearances.